


A Wish for God's Grace

by DarkSeraphim



Category: Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magika | Puella Magi Madoka Magica
Genre: Gen, Off-screen Character Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-04-02
Updated: 2012-04-02
Packaged: 2017-11-02 21:59:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,102
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/373782
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarkSeraphim/pseuds/DarkSeraphim
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Joan d'Arc.  The Maid of Orleans.  Who was she before she became a Witch?  How did she feel about signing her soul away?</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Wish for God's Grace

**Author's Note:**

  * For [voksen](https://archiveofourown.org/users/voksen/gifts).



> I hope you like this! I've never done anything like this before, so I hope I did a good job.

Joan d’Arc.  The Maid of Orleans.  Leader of the French armies and rallying point of the people.  Not yet twenty years old yet she was considered to be a divine messenger from God himself.  She was just a peasant born girl, yet she had received the visions from God.  She was chosen to lead the French armies to victory.  She was born, destined and chosen, to protect the people from the demons of hell.

The people believed this.  They believed with all of their hearts.

Joan tried.  She prayed with all of her heart to believe.  She had to, or else she would sink into despair and madness.

She wasn’t crazy.  No, she had not lost her mind despite the rumors she knew sneaked around with the voices that praised her name.  If they only knew what she did, if they only knew what lurked in the shadows and preyed on the hearts of those she swore to protect.  If they knew, they wouldn’t call her crazy…perhaps though, they would go mad themselves.

Joan never once thought it strange that she heard voices from God.  She knew other people thought them mad, but ever since that day she had first heard the voice of God in her ears, she knew who it was that whispered to her.  She knew that she had been spoken to by God.  There was no doubt in her heart, and when she was older she knew what God wanted her to do.  She was to be an icon, something for the people to rally around and fight the pigs from across the sea. 

It shamed her, both now and then, to admit that she faltered.  She knew what God wished her to do, but she lacked the courage to do it.  She was a woman.  The world was controlled by men, and they seldom paid attention to their womenfolk in such things. 

That was when _he_ came to her.

He was such an unassuming, yet strange creature.  To this day she could not quite tell what sort of creature he was, though she had some idea of his origin.  His fur was as white as pure snow, yet his eyes were as red as the blood that flowed from man.  He appeared from nowhere and disappeared the same way, and his mouth never moved yet she heard his voice in her head as clearly as she heard that of her God.  But it was his offer, it was his offer that caused her the turmoil she now suffered through.

A single wish.  He would grant her any single wish in the world, and in return she would hunt the vile spawn of evil that threatened the lives of her fellow humans.  Witches.  Not evil woman as thought before, but horrid creatures straight out of the bowels of hell with powers truly monstrous.  And for one wish, this creature would give her the power to slay them. 

At first she had thought him some kind of emissary from God, sent to test her.  This was a heavy destiny that God lay before her.  Was he testing her courage?  Her resolve?  Was he offering her this change to fulfill the tasks he set before her?  At the time, Joan was certain of this.  She had believed with all of her heart that this was God’s will.  So she made her pact.  She signed away her soul to do God’s work.

She unfolded her hand to reveal the glowing green Soul Gem that rested in her palm.  The once emerald green glow was now darkened slightly.  She would have to purify it soon.  That was what the creature had told her.  It was strange now, how she never asked what would happen if she did not.  She had simply accepted what the creature told her, believing that God would never lead her astray.  God’s plans were mysterious to humans, all she could do was follow that path He set for her.

Joan closed her eyes and leaned back.  She recalled the first time she had entered the barrier of a Witch.  It was beyond frightening.  The colors and the mere look of the place made her sick to her stomach.  It was horrifying and garish, yet nothing compared to the Familiars.  Strange little creatures they were, but when they attacked they showed no mercy.  The first few fights had been shaky, and many times Joan thought she would lose her life.  But the sword she wielded never dulled and soon enough it came to be that nothing could escape the sharpened edge of her might and fury.  She sliced through the creatures as easily as one would cut through butter.

She showed Witches no mercy.  They were the vile creatures of Hell and she cut them down in the name of God and all that was holy.  But she was not without compassion, and each time she prayed for the poor souls of those bewitched by Satan’s lies.  It was with this growing skill, this growing confidence and fire that she swayed the French armies to her call and led them to victory after victory.  She was emboldened by their praises, knowing that unknown to them that she fought for them off the battlefield as well as on.  She took solace in knowing that God had sent her as a champion of the people and slayer of the wicked.

But as each battle raged on, doubt and grief began to grow in her heart. 

Many of God’s tenants required suffering and sacrifice.  Abraham was ordered to sacrifice his own son to God, and he obeyed only to have his son spared in reward for his faith.  Joan had always taken solace that God loved her, and that this path was set out for her by Him.  As her family grew distant and the friends she had made turned on her, she tried to take solace by her beliefs.  As the Witches never decreased and as the French victories became harder and harder to achieve, Joan tried to believe that God was still there for her.

But she didn’t hear Him anymore.  And soon she realized, that she hadn’t heard His voice in years…not since she made the pact with that creature with the white fur and red eyes.

The stone walls of the cell chilled her thinly dressed body.  She looked back down at the ever darkening Soul Gem.  Had she sold her soul, tempted by wicked devils?  In her arrogance, had she doomed her people to defeat? 

She didn’t know anymore.

The Soul Gem started to crack. 


End file.
